Rooting: the "how to's" and "why for's". This blog can also be thought of as a tutorial. For now, in the Blog Archive (on the right) you'll find a step by step guide to rooting an HTC Hero for Sprint. More phones to come.

How to:Step 1: Download the universal android root tool to your supported android phone.Step 2: Install the downloaded tool.Step 3: Select the version that you need (this is self explanatory within the tool).Step 4: Hit "root".

You will get confirmation that the phone has been rooted.

Now, as I've explained in earlier rooting method posts, we still have not made it possible to use Nandroid or Clockwork to make backups, run recoveries, and install custom ROMs. If you want to run a custom ROM, you'll need to be able to use a recovery utility and so, you'll want to read through the rest of this post.

While a rooted phone is good for installing apps that require root status, the real joy is in having the ability to do backups, run recoveries and install custom ROMs. Since you've used the "universal root method", it's pretty easy to get a recovery image flashed to your phone (i.e. make it possible to do all of these nifty things).